


I'll Call You By Name

by evaagna



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - Myths and Legends, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mermaids, Monster!Cassian, but not that ambiguous, but the bad/man-eating kind, yikes where are these tags going
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 19:34:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12564632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evaagna/pseuds/evaagna
Summary: Bodhi lost a bet.





	I'll Call You By Name

**Author's Note:**

> For the SniperPilotHalloween2017 Day 12 Prompt: Psycho Killers ~~but only sort of, if you think about it a certain way and maybe if you squint...who am I kidding, I mostly just went off prompt with this one.~~
> 
> I really don't know what this is or why I wrote it, and it definitely doesn't make sense, but here you go.

Bodhi lost a bet.

That’s how he ends up clinging to a pair of squeaky oars like a lifeline while sitting in an old aluminum rowboat as Jyn and Luke push it out into the thick fog covering the lake. At quarter to midnight two days before Halloween. In the pouring rain. 

He must not have accounted for _something_ right because usually he’s at least a little bit better at making wagers than this. Really.

It’s like the start of a horror movie, he can’t help but think - stupid teenagers messing around where they shouldn’t, until one of them ends up dead. Bodhi wonders if that would make him the dead one. Probably. Or maybe by some karmic justice it would be the ones left “safe” on the shore.

Not that he really wishes that! Of course not, _gosh_ , but any situation that can plaster this fierce of a scowl to his face calls for a little morbid humor. He steels himself with a deep breath and keeps rowing.

They say there are monsters in this lake. Mermaids or sirens or something like that. Bodhi doesn’t know the particulars of it, but it’s supposed to be something man-eating. They say that if you find yourself out on the lake at midnight on the night of a full moon, the creatures will appear and drag you down to a watery grave. Which, well, _Here he is!_ the nihilistic part of his brain cheers.

How did things end up like this? 

Thinking about it, Bodhi also doesn’t know exactly who _they_ are supposed to be, either. But it’s not like he even believes any of it, anyway; none of them do. It’s just a local ghost story - the stupid, childish kind of tale that parents tell their kids to scare them into behaving. So it’s not something that high schoolers like them think twice about. 

Unless it’s nearly Halloween and there are bets to be won and lost, apparently. 

He, Jyn, and Luke all think it’s a big joke. Though, Jyn and Luke are waiting by the car on the shore, laughing and yelling across the water to tease him, so that’s easy for them to say. He can’t see them anymore through the fog, but he can certainly hear them carrying on. 

Bodhi takes a deep breath and purposefully ignores them. All he has to do is row out into the middle of the lake, turn off his lantern, wait one whole minute, and then, when inevitably no monsters show, row back. No big deal. They’re only making him do it because they think he’s too chicken to go through with it.

Well, he’ll show them, won’t he?

He shivers and clutches the oars tighter. _Not_ because he’s scared, obviously-- It’s late October and it’s dark and it’s raining; he’s cold, okay? Definitely not scared.

As he maneuvers the boat into what he thinks is just about the middle - it’s hard to tell, when he can’t see the shore through the thick fog - and folds the oars up over the sides, the rain starts to let up. He reaches to turn the flashlight off as instructed, but his hand slips and he sends it clattering to the bottom of the boat with a loud crash. He flinches at the sound and-- Okay, maybe he’s a little bit scared. It’s fine though; he’ll just shut his eyes, count out a minute, and row back. It’s _fine_. Nothing’s going to happen.

Bodhi makes it to twenty three before he hears a thunk against the side of the boat, like flesh against hollow metal. His eyes fly open. A thin beam of moonlight just barely illuminates the boat and the dark water around it. “Jyn?” he calls, instinctively, hoping they’ll hear him across the water. But the noises from the shore have gone silent. “Jyn?” he tries again, hearing the panic rising in his own voice. Why did he ever agree to this? “Luke? Are you guys there?” 

A pause. No response.

 _Great_. They’re probably pulling a prank on him, hiding somewhere and waiting to jump out and scare him when he gets back. If Luke brought that stupid Wookie mask, Bodhi will never forgive him. 

“This isn’t funny, Jyn!” he calls, peering frantically into the darkness. He fumbles for the oars; whether the minute is up or not, he’s done. 

“Who’s Jyn?” an unfamiliar voice cuts in.

Bodhi whirls around, dropping the oars with a splash. He opens his mouth to scream, but the sound gets stuck in his throat.

There, hanging from the end of the boat with arms folded and chin tucked against hands, is a man in the water. A strikingly beautiful man. Or, at least, what Bodhi can see of him looks like a man, bare chested and hair slicked back and wet, with an unsettling glint haunting his brown eyes.

No, what is he thinking? Of course it’s a man; what else would he be? Because this is all some elaborate prank. It has to be. 

Bodhi sniffs. “Very funny,” he whines, trying very hard to scowl rather than cry, “What, did Jyn come up with this? Or was it Luke’s idea?” He is _never_ going to forgive them for this.

The man raises a brow, looking amused. Bodhi’s eyes are drawn to him - all soft lips, warm eyes, sharp jaw line - like he’s being mesmerized. His mouth twists into a smirk. “I don’t know what you mean,” he says. There’s another thunk under the boat. Something long and iridescent darts through the water beneath him. An enormous fin skims the surface, leaving only the gentlest ripple in its wake.

Bodhi swallows. Oh, he can guarantee that this is the last time he makes a bet unless he knows he can win.

“So who’s Jyn?” the creature - definitely _creature_ , no matter what he’s doing to Bodhi’s teenaged hormones - asks again. 

“I… I-- I--” Fear and attraction tangle the words on this tongue. There’s a meme for this, he’s pretty sure.

“You? You’re Jyn?”

“What? No, I--” Bodhi stops himself short. He remembers vaguely that he heard, somewhere, once, that you should never give your name to a magical being. Is this-- Does this count as a magical being? It’s all myth and fairy tale, he knows, but-- Now he’s not so sure. “Jyn is my friend.” Yeah, _some friend_ , he can’t help but think with a self-deprecating cry. 

“Oh,” The creatures frowns for a moment, but then looks thoughtful, like he’s filing away the information for later. “I see. Well,” He pauses, licks his lip in a slow, calculated swipe of his tongue, like he knows Bodhi won’t be able to take his eyes off him. “Then what can I call you? You can call me Cassian, if it helps.”

“Cassian,” Bodhi repeats, “You’re a...a…” He can’t bring himself to put it into words, especially since he’s not entirely sure what the correct word even is. “And there are...are there, ah, _more_ of you?”

He feels inexplicably flustered, and it pulls an easy grin across Cassian’s face. There’s a brief glint of sharp teeth, and Bodhi’s mind flashes to the image of a deep sea fish he saw on a tv documentary once, the kind with huge fangs and bioluminescent lures to trick other fish into becoming dinner. “More of me?” he asks, then hums consideringly, “Maybe, but not here.”

“Oh. Oh, okay,” Bodhi bites his lip, then frowns. His eyes dart to the dark water around them, it’s surface unnaturally still and near black in the moonlight, then back to the man before him. He half expects more eerie, alluring creatures to emerge at any moment. “Really?”

Cassian nods, smirk still playing at the edge of his lips. “It’s awfully lonely.”

Oh. _Lonely_. It sounds exactly like a line meant to trick him, and Bodhi chokes out a laugh. He’s not sure why; it just comes out before he can stop himself, but it’s stilted and nervous even to his own ears. “I’m, um, sorry to hear that--”

Cassian moves suddenly, pushing himself further out of the water. Bodhi flinches back, but he doesn’t come any closer, just hovers there supporting himself by his arms on the edge of the boat, so that he comes up to eye level. He fixes Bodhi with an intrigued stare for a long, considering moment and then lowers himself back down. “We could talk a while,” he suggests eventually, casual and careful, “Since I don’t get many visitors.”

“O-okay, I suppose,” Bodhi’s brow scrunches in concern. This is a terrible idea; he knows it is. He should be running-- or, _rowing_ away from here as fast as he can. Who cares if Jyn and Luke make fun of him, laugh and call him a scaredy-cat? But he doesn’t. Or maybe he can’t. The oars are right there; all he has to do is reach for them, but instead he gapes at the creature, transfixed and fighting down some unknown urge that tries to bubble up in his gut. He takes a shaky breath. “Then, what do you want to talk about?”

“Anything,” Cassian coaxes, “Whatever you want. But a name would be helpful, you know.”

Bodhi gulps. It’s something about his voice, something about his eyes; it’s drawing him in like a magnet. He shifts closer. “Something else,” is all he manages, barely more than a whisper. He knows he shouldn’t answer.

Cassian dips below the surface, rocking the boat in one bobbing motion. When he comes back up, water streams down his features. “What?”

One last drop of water sticks to the end of his nose, clinging for one long moment before falling to slide down his lips. Bodhi’s eyes follow it until it drips from his chin back into the lake. He clenches his jaw, forcing himself to stay on track. “Ask something else,” he repeats, “Not...not my name.”

Cassian frowns. “Stubborn,” he mutters, glancing off to the side into the water as if thinking, “Fine, how about… What are you, then? What do you do?”

Bodhi feels his breath hitch in his chest. This isn’t the question he was expecting. “I’m a-- a student,” It comes out easily, brown eyes locked with brown eyes. “I want-- I want to be a pilot.”

A hand comes up, hovers a breath away from his cheek, then pulls back before it can touch. “A pilot,” Cassian hums after a moment, “You must be looking for adventure.”

“And you,” One thought becomes very clear in Bodhi’s mind, though most of him can’t remember why it matters. “You-- you manipulate people, whatever you are.”

Cassian chuckles. “Do I?”

He nods mechanically, like he’s not sure if he’s actually doing it or just imagining doing it. He tries to think of something else to say, tries to build off that thought he’s only just had, but his mind is going fuzzy and warm with something very much like lust.

Cassian doesn’t look particularly inconvenienced, if he notices. His eyes dart down every few moments, lingering on Bodhi’s lips before flashing back up to hold his gaze. “Tell me your name,” he asks again after a weighted pause, voice lilting down, commanding but gentle.

They’re so close now, close enough that Bodhi can feel the coolness of Cassian’s skin leaching warmth through the still air between them. He doesn’t remember how they got like that. Somehow he’s kneeling in the back of the boat now, hands braced against the side, face only inches from Cassian’s. 

“Bodhi--” he stutters out, like it’s been pulled from somewhere buried deep beneath his sternum, “My name, it’s-- it’s Bodhi.” Some remiss part of him feels panic rising under the surface, sensing danger and screaming to run. But that part is hard to listen to over the overpowering draw pulling him forward, especially when Cassian smiles again, broad and pleased. This time the white glint of teeth doesn’t feel so dangerous.

“Good, good,” Cassian breathes, “Bodhi what?” 

Bodhi swallows. He needs to snap out of it. But he wants-- Oh, he doesn’t even know what he wants, but-- “Rook!” It comes stumbling out in a rush. He takes a deep breath. What is he doing? “Bodhi Rook.”

“Bodhi Rook,” Cassian repeats, “A good name.” He draws the words out like they're so very, very satisfying just to say, like it's something to be savored. Cold breath tingles across Bodhi’s lips, and-- 

_Oh_. Bodhi has never heard his name said quite like that before. It makes desire simmer low in his belly, pulls a deep longing from his chest. It makes him want-- he doesn’t _know_ , but he can’t think hard enough to figure it out. All he knows is that he needs to-- He needs--

Before he can think of a reason not to, he leans forward to meet Cassian’s lips with his own. The sensation that washes over him is instant and intoxicating. He feels a cool tongue swipe across his bottom lip, and he opens to it like it’s the answer to a question that he hadn’t even thought to ask. Then a wet hand comes up to cup the back of his head.

Bodhi feels himself lurching forward, but even as his hands scramble to catch himself on the slick side of the boat, it’s too late.

He falls into the frigid water, pulled until he’s engulfed in darkness-- 

Down, down, down.

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who had a really boring weekend and somehow ended up getting dragged out in a rowboat to go "fishing" in the pouring rain?


End file.
